Hauppauge HD PVR -> Editable Format.

[Raine]

So I got my HD PVR in the mail the other day, but unfortunately I'm having a lot of trouble getting the captured files into a format where I can edit them. I was hoping someone would be able to explain where I'm going wrong.

First of all, you can capture in a variety of containers (.m2ts, .mp4, .ts) but you are limited to h.264 codec that comes with the capture software and either AAC or AC3 audio. I've captured sample clips in each container format, but always at 1280x720 and 59.94 fps. What I want to do is be able to convert what I'm getting from here into something that can be opened in an editing program (hopefully Adobe Premiere CS3 as that's what I have access to).

I've tried a huge variety of methods that I searched on google, using a combination of VirtualDub, Avisynth (w/ DGACV or DirectShowSource), TSSniper, AutoMKV, Ojosoft Total Video Converter and a bunch of other shit, but the file I end up with always has some kind of problem (audio loses sync, incorrect framerate, straight up errors). The closest I've got to getting it to work properly is using VirtualDub/AviSynth, opening an .mp4 container using DirectShowSource. Everything seems to be ok with this method apart from the fact that VirtualDub is loading the wrong resolution (it only loads the top left 720x480 becasue the description on the container is busted even though when you open the file normally it will display correctly at 1280x720).

So any suggestions for methods/tutorials/forum posts/any info at all that could help me get this sorted out?

I'm pretty fucking salty at the fact that everyone hails this HD PVR as the best for capturing game footage, but then the software it comes with is pretty much dogshit and you are left in the dark if you wanna convert/edit it properly (i.e. preserve framerate correctly) instead of using their shitty software to convert to WMV or something (defeating the purpose of capturing in HD anyway).

Sorry for the rant, but I just wanna make combos, not fuck around with video settings, and that's all I've been doing the past 2 days.

[CPS2]

Yeah it's a pain having to convert the videos before editing them. I wasn't sure whether to recommend this capture card or not because it's a pain getting started. Not sure what else to suggest aside from the settings i use in Ojosoft, and those didn't seem to work...

[Dark_Chaotix]

Well I gave CPS2 the heads up on the HD PVR and the same software for converting. How he does it is the same as me...Im not too sure what is wrong.

Also I do know there is a specific klite codec pack that has the codecs which your editing software can use so you dont need to convert and import directly into it. Its not for vista or xp (7 only I do believe) and since I dont use win7 I never looked for it. Maybe try searching for it but then again im not sure what to search for...

Sorry its not working out for you....

[error1]

Yeah the first thing I would recommend is installing the community codec pack.
I'm not familiar with Adobe Premiere but my editing software can handle h264 just fine

[Raine]

I've got codecs sorted already with a combination of ffdshow and Haali. I can play the files fine in MPC or whatever, but Premiere and VirtualDub don't like opening them.

[Snoooootch]

What editing software do you use? It may be that. I edit mine straight off after recording with Corel Video Studio Pro X3. If you need a solution for now, you could totally download the trial version and see if you can open them like that. maybe it would help for now till you get what you need sorted out. They came out with Pro X4 like a month ago, too. I've yet to find a converter that doesn't lose the HD that the HD PVR outputs at, so I can't help there. I hear http://www.daniusoft.com is a good cheap converter that will even convert MKV files, and I think it's pretty cheap. maybe download the trial and try it out.

[error1]

if you need an encoder it's hard to beat avisynth, but if you can't handle h264, x264 probably won't do you any good.

edit: there is a avisynth plugin for Premiere http://urchin.earth.li/~tomford/avisynth/
you should be able to simply open it in Premiere as an avs without any encoding before hand

[Dammit]

Sounds like the root of the problem is the packin software is outputting malformed files. Can you use virtualdub to do the capturing instead?

If you can't, try capturing in AVI, then send it through virtualdub with no changes, i.e., "direct stream copy" for both audio and video. This will recontainer the file and possible fix problems due to bad muxing. Try to capture the audio at constant bitrate, because AVI can have A/V drift with VBR audio.

[error1]

speaking of capturing I've heard dScaler is the best way to get a video off a capture card, but it doesn't work with all video cards
http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/index.php

[Raine]

Sounds like the root of the problem is the packin software is outputting malformed files. Can you use virtualdub to do the capturing instead?

Yeah this seems to be the main cause. Unfortunately it seems the way the HD PVR does it's own encoding on board it won't interface with typical capture software, only software written specifically for it. It would've taken me 5 mins to solve if the .mp4 container output setting didn't have a busted resolution in the video header.

Anyways I think I've managed to get a useable file now. I'll put down the process here, maybe it'll be able to help someone later.

ArcSoft TME Capture Software: .m2ts, default bitrate, AC3 audio, PAL_B (PAL_60 doesn't seem to actually capture at 60fps...)
AutoMKV 0.98.4: .avi container, XviD 2-pass balanced, turn filters off, mp3 audio (love this program, it automates all the demuxing and avisynth stuff you'd normally need to do manually)
VirtualDub: Direct stream copy for video, full processing for audio (convert the VBR audio to PCM) NB: this step could be avoided if I could get AutoMKV to convert to PCM audio to start with but I'd need to write a custom script for that and it's above my level atm.
VirtualDub: Files can now be cut and combined in DirectStreamCopy mode flawlessly. The output from this should be handled fine in other video editors too.

I managed to get useable files with a couple of other methods too (using h.264 rather than XviD as well) but there was always problems with frame dropping. It's not really an issue at all for something like MvC3 or T6, but it's important for sprite based games like KoF98/2k2. If you drop frames in these you start to get all kinds of frustrating video glitches along the lines of the Youtube frameblending article that Damnit wrote.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Dark_Chaotix]

When it came to stuff from ps2, i still used my capture card.

[wolverine-master]

i also have the hd pvr.
for ps2, i use: THIS
and for my xbox clips, i use windows movie maker to cut the clip......but when finished, it converts the file into wmv format.
as for the moment, i do not have any editing software.....anyone got advice?

[error1]

I use megui http://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/
it's just a front end for avisynth, a frameserver that you can use for encoding and editing
all the editing is text based so you need to learn the scripting language, but you can learn enough to do simple editing stuff in a few minutes